Upcoming Events

Join us as we celebrate our diverse writing community! During this social hour, we encourage current and prospective friends of the Loft to come hang and write with us from 4:00 - 5:30 PM at Open Book and join us for the Diversifying Writers Open Mic Reading afterwards at 6:00 PM. Drinks and light snacks are provided. $10 or pay as you can at the door for general public; $5 for Friends of the Loft!

Interested in applying for to be the next Minneapolis Poet Laureate for 2027-2028? Join this hybrid info session either in-person or online to hear the ins and outs of the program's eligibility!

The Fire is Here event series opens with Hieu Minh Nguyen and his new book, a Top Ten Most Anticipated Poetry Collection, per Publishers Weekly.

Please join us for a public reading by the 2026 McKnight Judge in Children's Literature, acclaimed writer of stories for kids and the young at heart, Helena Ku Rhee. Rhee will be joined in conversation with Partnerships Program Manager, Cristeta Boarini.

Come together as one big friend group at our end of summer gathering for Friends of the Loft! Meet fellow wordsmiths and bibliophiles, enjoy some refreshments, and participate in the open mic at this free donor social.

Join us for a night of illuminating discussion about crafting short stories, led by University of Minnesota faculty Aamina Ahmad, Megan Giddings, and Julie Schumacher. This reading event is co-sponsored by The Department of English at the University of Minnesota.

Join us as award-winning author and former McKnight Award Judge Valeria Luiselli (Lost Children Archive, The Story of My Teeth) when she visits The Loft to celebrate her new book, Beginning Middle End, a warm and poetic novel set on the island of Sicily during a summer of wild winds, volcanic rumbles, and unexpected tempests.

If you're curious about the Loft's Year-Long Writing Project in Novel Writing, Creative Nonfiction with Sun Yung Shin, or Memoir with Kelly Sundberg, and which is right for you, come to this informal information session to find out more!

Please join us for a public reading by the 2026 McKnight Judge in Poetry and Spoken Word, acclaimed writer, poet, and leader, Cornelius Eady. Eady will be joined in conversation with the Loft's Executive and Artistic Director, Arleta Little.